New York, January 25, 2008–Several Yemeni news and opinion Web sites have apparently been blocked domestically by the government-owned Internet service provider, according to news reports and a CPJ interview. Three Web sites became unavailable to domestic users on January 19, joining a list of at least five others that have disappeared within Yemen without…
JANUARY 24, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 Jamil al-Nimri, Al-Ghad ATTACKED Al-Nimri, a columnist for the daily paper Al-Ghad, told CPJ that an assailant rang the doorbell to his residence on Gardens Street in Amman’s Tla al-Ali area and asked the maid to see him. Al-Nimri said that when he came to the door, the…
New York, January 23, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the detention in Gaza of a Palestinian newspaper bureau chief by the Hamas government’s internal security services. Hamas security agents arrested Munir Abu Rizq, Gaza bureau chief for the daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida, on January 15 while he was on his way to…
Washington, January 22, 2008—In testimony today before the House Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee, the Committee to Protect Journalists raised concern about mounting press freedom abuses in U.S. ally nations in the Middle East and urged the U.S. government to prioritize press freedoms in its bilateral relations.
JANUARY 20, 2008 Posted February 15, 2008 Aziz al-Matni, Al-Anbaa ATTACKED Al-Matni, director-in-charge of the weekly newspaper Al-Anbaa, told CPJ he was surprised by a wildfire threatening his home in Matn district’s Qornet Shehwan, approximately 10 miles from the capital, Beirut, around 12:30 a.m. His car, a blue Mitsubishi Lancer, had been set on fire.…
New York, January 18, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Tunisian appeals court’s ruling on Friday that upholds a one-year prison sentence against a journalist who had written articles critical of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the first family. A court of appeal in Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, confirmed a lower court’s…
Dear President Bush: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to you in advance of your expected meetings next week with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. We would like to draw your attention to the ongoing imprisonment of two journalist bloggers as well as to other restrictions on the press in each country.
New York, January 2, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the Tunisian government’s denial of a passport to Kamel Labidi, a freelance Tunisian journalist and CPJ’s Middle East representative. On July 17, Labidi, a Tunisian national, applied for a new passport at the Tunisian Embassy in Washington after losing his old one. A representative…